Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Inglorious Royal Marriages

Why does it seem that the marriages of so many monarchs are often made in hell? And yet we canít stop reading about them! To satisfy your schadenfreude, INGLORIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES offers a panoply of the most spectacular mismatches in five hundred years of royal history.... some of which are mentioned below.

When her monkish husband, England's Lancastrian Henry VI, became completely catatonic, the unpopular French-born Margaret of Anjou led his army against the troops of their enemy, the Duke of York.

Margaret Tudor, her niece Mary I, and Catherine of Braganza were desperately in love with chronically unfaithful husbands - but at least they weren't murdered by them, as were two of the Medici princesses.

Compelled by her mother to wed her boring, jug-eared cousin Ferdinand, Marie of Roumania - granddaughter of Queen Victoria - emerged as a heroine of World War I by using her prodigious personal charm to regain massive amounts of land during the peace talks at Versailles. Marie's younger sister Victoria Melita wed two of her first-cousins: both marriages ultimately scandalized the courts of Europe.

Brimming with outrageous real-life stories of royal marriages gone wrong, this is an entertaining, unforgettable book of dubious matches doomed from the start.

Praise for Leslie Carroll's Royal Books

"An irresistible combination of People magazine and the History Channel." Chicago Tribune (5 Stars)

Buy the Book

About the Author

Leslie Carroll is the author of several works of historical nonfiction, womens fiction, and, under the pen names Juliet Grey and Amanda Elyot, is a multipublished author of historical fiction. Her nonfiction titles include Royal Romances, Royal Pains, Royal Affairs, and Notorious Royal Marriages. She is also a classically trained professional actress with numerous portrayals of virgins, vixens, and villainesses to her credit, and is an award-winning audio book narrator.

A frequent commentator on royal romances and relationships, Leslie has been interviewed by numerous publications, including MSNBC.com, USA Today, the Australian Broadcasting Company, and NPR, and she was a featured royalty historian on CBS nightly news in London during the royal wedding coverage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. She also appears as an expert on the love lives of Queen Victoria, Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon on the television series "The Secret Life of [fill in the name of famous figure]" for Canada's History Channel. Leslie and her husband, Scott, divide their time between New York City and Washington, D.C.